What our Nations are up against!

How to Use this Blog

Howdy! We've amassed tons of information and important history on this blog since 2010. If you have a keyword, use the search box below. Also check out the reference section above. If you have a question or need help searching, use the contact form at the bottom of the blog. ALSO, if you buy any of the books at the links provided, the editor will earn a small amount of money or commission. (we thank you) (that is our disclaimer statement)

This is a blog. It is not a peer-reviewed journal, not a sponsored publication... The ideas, news and thoughts posted are sourced… or written by the editor or contributors.

2019: This blog was ranked #50 in top 100 blogs about adoption. Let's make it #1...

2019: WE NEED A TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION Commission in the US now for the Adoption Programs that stole generations of children... Goldwater Institute's work to dismantle ICWA is another glaring attempt at cultural genocide.

Search This Blog

Monday, February 22, 2016

Truth and Reconciliation: The Findings on Wabanaki Child Welfare in the State of Maine

inS

“Imagine you’re about to have a little one, the love that you have
for that little one… and then imagine somebody outside of your family
you don’t even know making claims on your little one. They don’t like
the way you live and they’re going to take your little one by force.
Imagine what the loss is when this is not just your family, but your
entire community loses its children.” — gkisedtanamoogk, Truth and
Reconciliation Commission member in the documentary film First Light

The U.S. government’s historical attempts to solve the so-called
“Indian problem” have included stealing land, introducing disease and
warfare, and killing entire tribes. The documented atrocities have been
relentless, resulting in great harm to the Indigenous people of this
land. One of the most painful of these has been the forced removal of
Native children from their families and communities.
In the 1800s Congress authorized the Civilization Fund Act, providing
funding for boarding schools for Indian children. Native children were
taken far from their homes to boarding schools where they were forbidden
to speak their language or practice their customs. Children were
separated from siblings and were often badly abused; many died there.
Those who survived returned to their communities not knowing their
language and traditions, and they and their communities were never the
same. The last boarding school closed in 1984.

Child Welfare
In the 1950s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Child Welfare League
of America created the Indian Adoption Project, through which hundreds
of Native children were taken from their families and placed with mostly
white adoptive parents. The 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act gave Indian
children, families, and communities greater legal protections by
recognizing “the essential tribal relationship of Indian people and
culture and social standards prevailing in Indian communities and
families.” Still, through the 1990s, Native children were being placed
in foster care in Maine at a rate higher than most other states.
In 1999, Wabanaki Tribes and the state of Maine collaborated to
improve state compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act. The Muskie
School of Public Service, with funding from the Maine Office of Child
and Family Services, established a working group (later named
Maine-Wabanaki REACH) with tribal and state child welfare
representatives as members. The working group trained caseworkers,
developed policy, and gathered data about compliance in many Maine
communities.

Truth and Reconciliation
Despite positive steps, the working group found that significant
problems remained in practice and attitudes toward working with Native
children, families, and communities. In 2008, they concluded that in
order to create lasting change, the past needed to be investigated and
better understood. Over the next four years, the working group created
the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation
Commission—the first of its kind to address issues of Native child
welfare—to investigate systemic abuses and the factors that contributed
to them.
The Commission’s articulated intent was to uncover the truth of what
happened to Wabanaki people in state child welfare following the passage
of the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978, and to promote healing and
contribute to change in child welfare practices. Its mandate was signed
in 2012 by the five Wabanaki Chiefs and the Maine governor, outlining
responsibilities, timelines, and guidelines for interactions with tribal
communities.
Commissions rely on personal testimony, documentary research, and
other sources of evidence to understand the past. The Maine Commission
held listening circles, ceremonial gatherings, and interviews in six
Wabanaki communities and in five regions with non-Native Mainers.
Hundreds of people participated, including Wabanaki elders, children
formerly in care, foster and adoptive parents, tribal leaders, service
providers, incarcerated people, attorneys and judges, caseworkers and
administrators, and parents and grandparents. Talking about memories,
often painful and traumatic, was not an easy task, as many people had
never before shared their stories.

Commission Findings
The Commission’s final report, presented in 2015, found that Wabanaki
children in Maine entered foster care at an average of five times the
rate of non-Native children. The report concluded that to improve Native
child welfare, the state and the tribes must continue to confront:
1. Underlying racism still at work in state institutions and the public
2. Ongoing impact of historical trauma, also known as intergenerational
trauma, on Wabanaki people that influences the well-being of individuals
and communities
3. Differing interpretations of tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction that
make encounters between the tribes and the state contentious

The report further asserted that these conditions “can be held within
the context of continued cultural genocide, as defined by the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,”
adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948.

What’s Next?
The Commission issued a series of recommendations, inviting communities
and stakeholders to engage with the underlying conditions that
contribute to the problematic relationship between the Wabanaki Tribes
and the state of Maine and with child welfare practice failures. The
Upstander Project represents one such effort with its films, First Light
and Dawnland, companion learning resources, and teacher workshops.
Maine-Wabanaki REACH, which formed the Commission, provides education
on history, trauma, resiliency, healing, and ally-building to Maine and
Wabanaki communities. Healing circles, health and wellness workshops,
and community events focus on resilience and capacity building in all
tribal communities in the state. This includes restorative justice and
peacemaking circles and creating connections to Wabanaki incarcerated
relatives through a prison book drive and pen pal initiative. REACH
provides educational events, ally-building, and ongoing ally supports
across Maine to deepen the understanding of the shared history between
Native and nonNative Mainers. Allies are encouraged to take action to
create a more just relationship between Native and non-Native people in
Maine via legislative hearings, rallies, letters to the editor, letters
to legislators, and volunteering at Truth Commission events. REACH staff
are also working with the Indian Child Welfare Act working group on
child welfare improvements. REACH will play a vital role in the
implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s
recommendations.
As the Commission stated in its final report, “We have heard the
voices of the many who spoke with us and to remain quiet is to continue
to perpetrate harms that must be known. Consider this report as a step
toward refusing that silence and continuing this conversation, that
will, we hope, like all the best communication, offer ample time for
everyone to simply listen.”— Penthea Burns is Maine-Wabanaki REACH co-director (www.mainewabanakireach.org)

To read the Commission’s report in full, visit www.mainewabanakitrc.org/report. First Light First Light
is the first film in a series, anchored by the feature film Dawnland
(to be released in 2017), conveying the stories of pain and resilience
that emerged during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s process.
It tells a piece of the story of the Commission and its origins.
Dawnland will bring viewers inside the Commission and share testimony
from those who suffered because of the child welfare system, along with
those who upheld its policies.

“When we tell these stories, we feel it
in our bodies and our hearts. But I believe we can get to the point
where it has less power over us. This was a perfect example of the
readiness, that it’s time.” —Sandy White Hawk, TRC Commissioner.

First Lightand
its learning resources are available for free at upstanderproject.org.
These resources help teachers and students deepen their understanding of
the brutal and disturbing history of settler colonialism that began
with the invasion of Native peoples’ homeland, and government policies
that aimed to force Native people to stop being who they are. These
resources are central to the Upstander Project’s teacher and student
workshops.
The Upstander Project
helps bystanders become upstanders through compelling documentary films
and learning resources. Its goals are to help educators and students
overcome indifference to social injustice, develop the skills of
upstanders, and contribute to action-oriented campaigns in response to
vital social issues.

Introducing the Commissioners
• gkisedtanamoogk (key-said-TAH-NAH-mook), Wampanoag from the community
of Mashpee in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and adjunct instructor in the
Native American Studies and Peace & Reconciliation Programs at the
University of Maine
• Matt Dunlap, Maine’s secretary of state and former Maine state representative
• Carol Wishcamper, former chair of the Maine state board of
education, the Maine Center for Educational Service, and the Maine
chapter of the Nature Conservancy
• Sandy White Hawk, Sicangu Lakota from the Rosebud Reservation in
South Dakota and founder and director of the First Nations Repatriation
Institute
• Dr. Gail Werrbach, director and associate professor at the University of Maine School of Social Work

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please: Share your reaction, your thoughts, and your opinions. Be passionate, be unapologetic. Offensive remarks will not be published. We are getting more and more spam. Comments will be monitored. Use the comment form at the bottom of this website which is private and sent direct to Trace.

Survivors, write your stories. Write your parents stories. Write the elders stories. Do not be swayed by the colonizers to keep quiet. Tribal Nations have their own way of keeping stories alive.... Trace

Help in available!

1-844-7NATIVE (click photo)

click to listen

Diane Tells His Name

Please support NARF

Indian Country is under attack. Native tribes and people are fighting hard for justice. There is need for legal assistance across Indian Country, and NARF is doing as much as we can. With your help, we have fought for 48 years and we continue to fight.

It is hard to understand the extent of the attacks on Indian Country. We are sending a short series of emails this month with a few examples of attacks that are happening across Indian Country and how we are standing firm for justice.

Today, we look at recent effort to undo laws put in place to protect Native American children and families. All children deserve to be raised by loving families and communities. In the 1970s, Congress realized that state agencies and courts were disproportionately removing American Indian and Alaska Native children from their families. Often these devastating removals were due to an inability or unwillingness to understand Native cultures, where family is defined broadly and raising children is a shared responsibility. To stop these destructive practices, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

After forty years, ICWA has proven to be largely successful and many states have passed their own ICWAs. This success, however, is now being challenged by large, well-financed opponents who are actively and aggressively seeking to undermine ICWA’s protections for Native children. We are seeing lawsuits across the United States that challenge ICWA’s protections. NARF is working with partners to defend the rights of Native children and families.

where were you adopted?

To Veronica Brown

Veronica, we adult adoptees are thinking of you today and every day. We will be here when you need us. Your journey in the adopted life has begun, nothing can revoke that now, the damage cannot be undone. Be courageous, you have what no adoptee before you has had; a strong group of adult adoptees who know your story, who are behind you and will always be so.

Join!

National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network (NISCWN)

Membership Application Form

The Network is open to all Indigenous and Foster Care Survivors any time.

ADOPTION TRUTH

As the single largest unregulated industry in the United States, adoption is viewed as a benevolent action that results in the formation of “forever families.” The truth is that it is a very lucrative business with a known sales pitch. With profits last estimated at over $1.44 billion dollars a year, mothers who consider adoption for their babies need to be very aware that all of this promotion clouds the facts and only though independent research can they get an accurate account of what life might be like for both them and their child after signing the adoption paperwork.

This has happened to many, many Native children! We must protect ICWA and enforce it so that it stops! Even non-Native families that are not racist cannot provide a Native child with cultural knowledge and belonging. Only their tribes can do that. #ProudtoProtectICWAhttps://t.co/oA1e5kiK4k

A4: Twenty-one states filed an amicus brief in this case in support of #ICWA. These states, which are home to over 70 percent of tribal nations, know that ICWA helps them better serve Native children and families.#ProudtoProtectICWA

TWO WORLDS Book 1 (second edition)

Two Worlds anthology (Vol. 1)

“…sometimes shocking, often an emotional read…this book is for individuals interested in the culture and history of the Native American Indian, but also on the reading lists of universities offering ethnic/culture/Native studies.”

“Well-researched and obviously a subject close to the heart of the authors/compilers, I found the extent of what can only be described as ‘child-snatching’ from the Native Americans quite staggering. It’s not something I was aware of before…”

“The individual pieces are open and honest and give a good insight into the turmoil of dislocation from family and tribe… I think it does have value and a story to tell. I was affected by the stories I read, and amazed by the facts presented…. because it is saying something new, interesting and often astonishing.”

Did you know?

Good words

I agree with you on the caring of “orphans” – true orphans, not “paper orphans” as Kathryn Joyce describes in her book, The Child Catchers. The most important thing to remember, however, is that the orphan’s original identity and family connection and heritage must remain intact and available to him or her forever. This business of adoption – and I do mean the multi-billion-dollar, unregulated business of adoption – of wiping out the child’s original identity, falsifying birth records with the adopters’ names, altering facts such as place of birth, severing familial kinship, must stop … Immediately. And the outrageous injustices foisted upon adoptees and their families for the past 100 years must be addressed and righted. We are faced today with six to seven million people who were basically legally kidnapped, sold to the highest bidder, their identities falsified, and placed in a lifelong, imposed witness protection program for which there is no legal recourse. Then told by church officials, agency and government functionaries that they have no right to know who they are, to do genealogy or learn about important family medical history, or know the identity of or associate with blood relatives. This is how the Judeo-Christian society has interpreted “caring for orphans”, for it’s own selfish interests and greed. Starting with Georgia Tann, the woman charged with kidnapping and selling 5,000 children, most of whom were given to the rich and powerful who then colluded with her to “seal” adoptions and cover their nefarious activities (see, for example, Gov. Herbert Lehman, NY, 1935).

We are #50 in the world?

Every. Day.

adoptees take back adoption narrative and reject propaganda

Disclosure Statement

“We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”If you buy our books from Amazon, we receive a small payment.